Hey Reader! Stress limits our ability to maintain balance. When we give in to feeling overwhelmed, we amplify that feeling until we feel at a breaking point. And then something breaks us. What happens when you break? Do you cry? Do you lash out at others? Do you withdraw? Do you feel frozen? Do you try to push it all down and manufacture the passion you need to keep pressing forward? We’re not meant to keep going until we burst apart. But when we amplify our feelings of being overwhelmed,...
10 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! Thursday night, I hunkered down with friends to weather a potentially devastating storm. Friday morning we awoke, blessedly unharmed. But many weren’t so lucky. I heard from friends and family, driven from their homes. Days later, they’re still unhoused, cooking on camping stoves and living without things we take for granted, like electricity and gasoline. The storm washed homes, cities, and entire towns off the map. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to lose everything. But...
17 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! We like to think our lives are novel and that no one has ever experienced what we do now. However, the truth is that only technology and tools change. People react and behave similarly, repeating the same social patterns throughout time. The dominant pattern is a struggle between idealists who want progress and the entrenched defenders of the status quo. This happens every generation. That means the status quo being defended is usually only a generation or two old. And it’s being...
24 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! I reached a boiling point this week. And, yes, it had to do with social media. A neighbor invited me to a private group for our community, so I accepted. I quickly wished I hadn’t. Every time I logged on there was a new notification, often from the same person. The posts and comments were an endless stream of negativity and suspicion. I just wanted it to stop. Then I realized stopping the noise was within my power. I couldn’t stop them from posting negative and suspicious content....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! As evenings cool and we slide into sweater weather, I invite you to transition from the heat and activity of summer into the meditative rhythms of autumn. In nature, it’s time for trees to shed their leaves and go dormant. If you garden, you’re probably pickling and canning excess summer fruits and vegetables to last you through the long winter. If you dwell in a city, the smell of pumpkin spice heralds the coming of a time to slow down and savor before the craziness of winter...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! This was a lovely, long week filled with friends. People I don’t see enough and one person I hadn’t seen since I was fourteen years old. Lunch with a high school friend who’s moving away. Family visits and performances for a room sprinkled with strangers. I needed that reminder of how beautiful life is when we connect with others. Even the least encounter enriches me: with new thoughts, experiences, emotions, and understanding. But not every interaction is positive. Sometimes,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! There’s an odd prejudice against joy that some people develop as they age. But jubilation isn’t the exclusive province of the young. After all, who looks at misery and grief and says: That’s what I want when I grow up? Philosophers and scientists have debated and explored joy, and what makes a person happy. Consensus points to two things. Happy people are ones who choose to be happy, no matter what happens. If you look at everything that happens as something that happens for you...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader! This morning, something crashed through a wire fence as I was walking my dog through the woods. Was it a fox? A large rabbit? A bobcat? I tightened my hand on my dog’s leash. The animal was moving away through the low scrub on my left. I didn’t want to make any noise that might attract it. For a few tense seconds, the animal seemed to spin in circles in the tall grass. Then it leaped at the fence. But instead of moving through, it rebounded, landing awkwardly on its hindquarters....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader! A friend once told me a story about bamboo farmers. Every day, they water their bamboo. Every day, they stick to their plan. They may not see any sign of growth for THREE YEARS. And yet, every day, they water their bamboo. They don’t give up. Then, one day, the bamboo pierces through the ground and it begins to grow. And grow. And grow. In fact, it might grow more than a foot a day. After two months, a stalk of giant timber bamboo goes from nothing to ninety feet tall! They kept...
2 months ago • 1 min read